I'm pretty sure that after paying Apple ~$1700 for a M1 MacBook Air, they not only don't care if I don't sign into iCloud, they don't care if I smash it repeatedly with rocks. They have the money already.
They definitely do care. They want you in their entire ecosystem using the Apple Watch, iCloud etc. then you’re a sticky customer who’s paying them more money and less likely to ever leave.
Yes, I know. I also know that if you look at the numbers Apple still makes the majority of their income on hardware. By a lot. (Like, 79% to 21% as of the last reported quarter.) Maybe one day this will not be true, but that day is not today, and it is unlikely to be a day next year, or the year after that, or the year after that.
In any case, I was making a dry joke about Apple not wanting your money if you weren't signed into iCloud, because how all companies, private or public, work generally includes "this person giving us some money may not be as good as this person giving us more money, but is obviously better than this person giving us no money at all." One day I will learn that dry humor rarely flies on Hacker News, but that day is not today, and it is unlikely to be a day next year, or the year after that, or the year after that. So it goes.